This invention relates to an agricultural planting machine and more particularly to a planting machine having a pair of rotating disks that open a furrow in which the seeds are deposited as the machine advances and a pair of gauge wheels on opposite sides of the furrow opening disks that control the depth of the furrow opened by the disks. A machine of the above general type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,137 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,137, both of which are owned by Deere & Co.
In such a machine, it is desirable to have the gauge wheels positioned on the opposite sides of the furrow opening disk in a close relationship to accurately gauge the depth of the furrow and to prevent the build-up of dirt or trash between the gauge wheels and the opener disks. Due to the wear of the machine, it is sometimes necessary to adjust the position of the gauge wheels to maintain the close relationship of the wheels with the opening disks. For that purpose, it is known to provide shims or spacer washers on the opposite side of the arm that rotatably supports the gauge wheels, the upper end of the arm being mounted on a generally transverse shaft so that the lateral position of the gauge wheel relative to the adjacent disk can be adjusted by removing the bolt that holds the gauge wheel arm until the desired minimum clearance between the gauge wheel and the side of the furrow opening disk is achieved. The above procedure, of course, may be somewhat difficult and time consuming, since to make the adjustment, the gauge wheel arm and the gauge wheel mounted thereon must be removed to add or subtract the washers or shims.
The device illustrated in the above-mentioned Ege patent also provides for axial adjustment of the gauge wheel. The device there described is perfectly adequate for its intended purpose but does put substantial forces on the bearing on which is mounted the gauge wheel. In order to avoid excessive wear on the bearing, while retaining the ease of adjustment inherent in the Ege device, the present invention is directed to a device for axially adjusting the position of the gauge wheels, that is laterally adjusting the gauge wheels in connection with the adjacent furrow opening devices while alleviating excessive wear on the bearings by locking the bearing to the gauge wheel arm so that the arm and bearing react as a unit.